I am a novice in home repair and yet I am buying my first home which is conditional upon home inspection, during which I plan to find out about the problem which is haunting me. This house is 6 years old and was rented out so, of course, the tenants didn't bother to take care of the house. What I see is a stain from water leak on the ceiling of the living room, which seems to follow the outline of the shower stall in the bathroom right upstairs. It is about 4-5 inches long, straight line kind of, and is on only one side. Then there is another stain about a couple of feet away near the smoke detector. This is more kind of circular stain ..... there is the upstairs hallway here and the upstairs is carpeted..... I can also feel that that section of the carpet is kind of raised as if someone spilled a whole lot of water there....surrounding is ok.
So now my question to you is that do you (experts and experienced people out there) think this may be something major ??? I know that the home inspector probably will find this out...but I still want to know about the experience people have had. Can a big jug of water if spilled can show stain on downstairs ceiling like in this 2nd stain I am talking about?? Any advice on what to look for and what to ask on the day of home inspection??
Thanks for the help!!